Roy Peter Clark

Poynter Results

If two examples constitute a trend, then a movement is afoot among editors to encourage short writing. It began at The Washington Post, where an editor argued that many stories could be tighter. Before you could say “Strunk and White,” an editor at The Wall Street Journal made the same case.

Editor's note: After two years as a writing coach at the St. Petersburg Times and 38 years as a teacher at The Poynter Institute, Roy Peter Clark has announced his retirement from Poynter, effective Dec. 31. He will continue to serve the Institute on a contract basis, working on key projects and doing some writing and teaching. In this interview with Poynter, he reflects on his legacy and looks to the future.

Somewhere in a deep corner of my files, there is a single piece of paper with just a few words on it that changed my life as a writer and teacher.

It was presented in 1982 to a seminar of writers gathered around a table in a decrepit bank building that served as the original home of what was to become the Poynter Institute. The presenter was Donald Murray, a professor at the University of New Hampshire and writing coach at The Boston Globe and Providence Journal.

Not long ago, my wife and I test-drove a Kia Soul (she bought a Toyota Rav4), but what struck us was the color of the Kia, a shade of green we had never seen on a car before. "It’s called Alien Green," said the salesman, "one of our most popular colors." Sure enough, we began to see this make and model in this color everywhere we traveled.

Over the next few months, Poynter will publish shortened versions of 21 chapters of the book "Help! for Writers," by Roy Peter Clark. Published by Little, Brown, the book lists common problems writers face and offers 10 solutions for each of the problems.

I saw a clip of Matt Lauer today. He said that viewing the video of the murder of two journalists “took my breath away.” Here is the man, I thought, who broadcast to me news of planes flying into the twin towers on 9/11. It must take a lot to take this veteran’s breath away.

One of the few regrets I have in my life is taking up golf without first taking lessons. Lugging my dad’s rusty clubs to the nine-hole course at Carroll Park, I simply started swinging exactly as Arnold Palmer did on TV. Or so I thought.